After the US mass school shooting happened on December 14, 2012, President Barak Obama has called for legal
changes to induce more restrictions on gun’s possession and purchasing.
Over this recent debate of gun control, Americans have been divided into two sides: a sector argues that Obama’s gun control proposal is very restricting thus they are against it; namely the beneficiaries who are strongly attached to gains and revenues this gun’s industry is bringing.
While the other sector relates mainly to normal American citizens and parents who lost their loved ones; this group is strongly fighting the same battle right next to Obama.
A Tragedy
On Friday the 14th of December 2012, the day has started bright with a lovely breeze in the air. At Sandy Hook an elementary school located in Newtown, Connecticut, the young students were racing joyfully to their own classes. It was a routinely and normal day yet it ended up tragically.
A guy wearing black clothing, earplugs and an olive green utility vest crashed his way through the school by shooting the locked glass door at the front of the school. This was Adam Lanza, the perpetrator.
He fatally shot twenty children and six adult staff members. Moreover Lanza had shot and killed his mother, Nancy Lanza, at their home by pointing four guns shoots to her head while she was in her bed. Eventually he committed suicide by shooting himself in the head.
The fact is that a human massacre has happened; therefore addressing root causes that lead to it is an indispensible for the sake of avoiding such tragedy from happening again.
However, it was believed that Lanza, had a personality disorder and was "somewhat autistic” as his brother claimed, many argued that his illness did not cause this tragic but the fact that he had free access to gun storage.
This allegation was based on the investigations findings; a large quantity of unused ammunition that was recovered inside the school, along with three semi-automatic firearms found with Lanza, more weapons were found at his place. At home, Lanza had access to three more firearms.
In the aftermath of this horrible incident, President Barack Obama launched the biggest US gun-control approach in generations, urging Congress to approve background checks for all gun buyers and an assault weapons prohibition.
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The statue of Twisted Gun (a sign of refuting guns) in the main plaza of the UN.
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Ailing History
Stricter gun control measures become a top policy target for Obama’s office in the next term. In doing so, a strong political support is needed to back-up his agenda. This is indeed going to be a bitter fight. On one hand, confronting with the powerful US gun lobby - the National Rifle Association, and its supporters in Congress, who will defy what they see as an infringement on gun’s rights constitutionally stipulated.
On the other hand, regarding the most controversial piece of the proposal, Obama has presented, is his request to renew ban on military-style assault weapons, a step that is improbably going to win approval since Republicans who are majority and control the House of Representatives are expected to contest it.
It is crucial to understand that Obama recent proposal was not driven only because Newtown, Connecticut massacre, because mass gun shooting has a dark history in the US. His pursuing of restrictions on gun trade is built up on several heartrending accidents that caused America to grief and sorrow over the lost of many innocent lives.
| After the obvious security lapse that was demonstrated by the sequence of mass massacres that occurred only in 2012, during Obama presidency, it was urgent and a necessity to take a bigger step and a leap towards grass-root solutions to address the causes. |
On July 20, 2012, there was a mass shooting inside of a Century movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, during The Dark Knight Rises movie screening.
The shooting brought-up the debate on gun control, with one main concern which is the easy access James Eagan Holmes, the attacker, had. Holmes had two assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, which were federally banned from 1994 to 2004.
Furthermore, on August 5, 2012, a mass shooting took place at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, by a gunman. He caused the death of six people and wounding four others. President Obama offered his condolences, calling the Sikh community and ordered flags at federal buildings flown at half-staff until August 10 to honor the victims.
Hence, and after the obvious security lapse that was demonstrated by the sequence of mass massacres that occurred only in 2012, during Obama presidency, it was urgent and a necessity to take a bigger step and a leap towards grass-root solutions to address the causes. Rightly taken step by Obama in his pursuit of reducing violence by adding firm restriction, monitoring and controlling gun business.
Finally, Obama asserted that his plan is not only to issue new laws or better enforcement of US gun laws, but also how to make sure that the country has got the strongest possible law enforcement teams on the ground to make America a safer place.
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